australianslug

Sweet as! Well done.

That's awesome fishing!

Sounds like it was an awesome experience! (And great images as well)

Great work! Where abouts were you fishing?

Awesome effort and no doubt one of the most memorable days on the water for you guys!

Hey guys, we were in 78 fathoms when we got the bite and the temp 22.6 degrees. Within an hour the temp rose to 23.5 in the same area as the warm current pushed in. The boat is a 25ft Bertram (runabout version) - it's a rare boat but was easy to justify to the mrs (aka the boss) as a family day boat! Here is a photo of her on a recent family day trip.

Sometimes things just line up and for us New Year's Day was one of those days. Good weather, a good crew with slight hang overs and a leave pass to boot. Left Pittwater and headed to Bait Station. Conditions were awesome and at 9am all mayhem broke loose. First rod went off, then the second, then the third. I figured we had run over a school of small tuna until I realised that tuna don't jump three feet in the air, have big sword like thingies on their nose and are 50kg plus! Quickly got the teasers in and started to wind the four lure in......and another fish smacked that 15ft from the boat! Hectic. I'm still not sure how it all went down, though with three of us on board we had a chance of getting one or two to the boat. The one that hit the lure being wound in quickly 'spat' the hook, another got busted off when another fish jumped over the line, then that fish had the hook pull. We had one fish on that was now 200m from the boat and screaming off 24kg. Gave the rod to a mate who was yet to catch one and we had a fish that did everything in our favour. Had it to the boat in about 20-25minutes and on deck for a few photos before being released. We were all stoked and have got some good phone footage as well. Pretty sure it was the first fish landed for 2016 for sydney which put a cherry on top as well! Continued to fish until just after lunch (due to other commitments) and saw a few free jumpers, a sun fish and some pilot whales....but no more fish in the spread. An awesome day on the water and if you heard some over happy dudes on 21 that day, that was us!

Reporting in...zeros. Trolled from 60fathom inside bait station out to 77fathoms. Temp went from 21.5 to 22.6 then the wind blew around 17knots plus. Opted to stay in close as boats out wide hadn't seen anything. Trolled north along 67 fathoms on a small current line, though didn't turn a real or see any activity. Water looked good 75-80 and that would have been the pick. Happy fishing

Anyone head out today? Looked pretty nice on the ocean and the current looks enticing in close. I'm planning a trip out from Pittwater tomorrow...happy to share info on21.

Didn't end up heading out this morning. Opened the front door at 4.30am to 15 knots+ of offshore wind and went back to bed. Wind got stronger during the morning up our way so it was a good call. Good luck to those heading out over the next few days, the current line looks pretty darn good on the charts around 75 fathoms.

I'm weighing up heading out tomorrow morning from broken bay and plan to be back around 2pm. Any thoughts?

Hi all, great day on the water though only two small mac tuna for us. Tried in closer, then ran out to browns and east of there. Came across a solid temp break of about .7 over 1km and worked that for a while then headed east. Came across a current line about 12km east of browns which looked awesome and followed that se for about 10km. Temp between 19.3-19.8. Had two big 4-5ft plus tunas launch 5 feet into the air just in front of the boat and worked that area for no luck so started the cube trail. (They looked more blue than yellow .....but it all happened quickly) We ended up drifting a further 6km after less than an hour and no wind! Current raging from the north. Trolled back past browns and about 10km nw before calling it a day. Radio chatter pretty quite all day, though heard of a nice bull dollie being taken early and one 50kg yellow fin (might have been southern canyons). Bumpy ride back in once the nne kicked in. Also heard a few raiders on the radio though couldn't raise them (I'm new to this so probably calling the wrong call signs) so hopefully they had better luck.

Thanks boattart, will give you a call tomorrow and good luck. I also appreciate the info. My boat name is happytalk. (Came with the boat!)

Anyone hear any reports of tuna lately? (I have limited intel!) I'm planning a trip out around browns tomorrow and happy to share info once out there.

Well I can now say Ive ticked one box that I don't want to tick again! The biggest ended up around 50m at its base and would have turned the boat over very easily. The weather also looked very unstable. We ended up turning back after radioing the boats at browns that day, and they reported 15+knots rain and lightning and getting worse......here's hoping we get another shot at the tuna!

A little bit off topic.......Went out yesterday from pittwater heading towards browns and heatons to chase tuna and got about 20km off long reef before we encountered this and two others that formed. It touched down 100m from us before we gunned it, and it intensified. Pretty interesting situation to be in!

Great work on the fish! We went out Sunday chasing fin, trolled browns at 7.30am then trolled to heatons and back for zeros. Had some dolphins, pilot whales and whales keep the trip interesting. Hardly any one out and temps between 19.4 (browns and water looking a bit dirty) and 20.7 at heatons. Current strong from the north. Not much action part from one 5kg striped tuna that took the first bait in the cube trail that we started around lunch time a few kms east of browns. Heard one boat dropped a blue marlin and that was it. A few boats stayed wide for the tide change but we didn't hear anything exciting on the radio. It can't be long before it starts happening!

Legend status deserved!

Great work and great shots!

3-3-0 for us yesterday so can relate! Fishing with two other boats east of barrenjoey who went 3-3-3 and 1-1-1 respectively. Watched a good sized stripe charge into the spread and smack the long corner then bolt for the horizon jumping and going crazy. It did another 5 or 6 jumps after the hooks pulled and was great to watch. Bringing the lure back to the boat another fish charged the spread only to hit the same lure. A mate was physically holding the rod and basically fed the lure into its mouth when it hit. It looked like a bloody good strike and it too took off like the clappers. The hook then pulled.........and we were a little bewildered as to why. We bough the lure in only to find the pointy barb of the hook had been bent over meaning it was near impossible for the hook to set into anything let along a beast of the sea. We figured the first fish had caused the damage. As for the conditions (and the timing) it couldn't have been much better. Happy Australia Day everyone. (Ps we got our first marlin on Thursday -a nice stripe so there's still a bit of buzz in the air!)

Hi readers, we headed out yesterday firstly to the sydney north fad ........ A lot of boats on it and not many fish spotted. Quite a few fish traps around so fished them and there were plenty of undersized dolphin fish. Water blueish though a bit "dirty'. We then headed out to 70 fathoms off longy and trolled east. Not much happening, no bait, no birds and water a touch green though was getting better as we went east. Temp was 21.3-21.6. Wind got up when we hit 130 fathoms so pushed back in to the fad hoping for some bigger dollies. Had a fish of over a meter swim to the boat but it didn't eat anything we threw at it (including the last of our live slimies). Wind was at 22-25 knots at this stage so called it a day. On the way back in we went over a spot I marked on the way out in 34 fathoms where there was plenty of bait marked on the sounder - sure enough there were birds everywhere and the water looked good. That would have been the spot! Checked the charts again this morning and it looks like the warm water has come In over night.........Ide say there will be plenty of fish caught today. Tight lines.

Just reporting in.....it was a cracker day on the water but not much was happening with our target species. Headed out at towards East South East at 6am past the joey after stocking up on slimies. At 40 fathoms there was a lot of activity with dolphins and mutton birds going crazy though didn't sound up any bait and trolled around for an hour or so with no luck. The water was green and around 19 degrees. Trolled out to 70 fathoms where the water made its way up to 19.7. We found a current line/slick and the water temp went from 19.7 to 19.3. There wasn't that much current at all. The water was also reasonably blue but lacking that cobalt darkness. We trolled along the line for hours and found one small mark on the sounder where we stopped and dropped some lives. No luck. Back on the troll to the south and the temp hits 20.3 at its max. Pulled stumps and headed back into 40 fathoms. Same activity was there but with the same result. It was a great day to be on the water. Will chase the kings in pittwater next time until the water out wide gets better.

Planning on heading out chasing dolphin fish tomorrow, currents don't look great though. Will be leaving from pittwater and aiming for around 70 fathoms off mona vale/long reef. It'll beat working either way.

Planning on heading out again Tuesday. Last week we went wide of Bait Station, trolled, and then cubed for 1.5 hrs for zero despite good temp change and bait on the sounder, then headed to Browns and boated a 29kg Yellowfin on the troll on the northern side. Heard the Bluefin reports on 21 at Heatons so headed out there around 1.30pm - started trolling about 4km from the mark (away from the 25+ boats out there) and within 10 min hooked up on the shotgun on 24kg. Fought it for 25 minutes before the hooks pulled - when we pulled the lure in we had a set of Tuna "tonsils" on the hook .....didn't see the fish but guestimate in the 40kg's (gaging the fight we had with the Yellowfin on the same gear - but who knows). Up to the Fishing Station today to buy some more straight running skirted lures!

bait station early then to browns for the tide change then head north north east wide for the arvo........